Treaty of Portsmouth - Negotiations

Negotiations

Delegates who signed the peace agreement were Sergei Witte and Roman Rosen for Russia, and Komura Jutarō and Takahira Kogorō for Japan. Fyodor Martens and other diplomats from both nations stayed in New Castle, New Hampshire at the Hotel Wentworth (where the armistice was signed), and were ferried across the Piscataqua River for negotiations held on the base located in Kittery, Maine. The General Stores Building (now Building 86) was used for the meetings. Mahogany furniture patterned after the Cabinet Room of the White House was ordered from Washington, D.C.

In accordance with the treaty, both Japan and Russia agreed to evacuate Manchuria and return its sovereignty to China, but Japan leased the Liaodong Peninsula (containing Port Arthur and Talien), and the Russian rail system in southern Manchuria with access to strategic resources. Japan also received the southern half of the Island of Sakhalin from Russia.

The proceedings of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty negotiations have been identified as an early example of multi-track diplomacy. Recent examinations of primary documents have determined that the citizen diplomacy at work in the Portsmouth peace process—as the people of Portsmouth encouraged the delegates' efforts for peace at numerous social events, especially during the times when formal negotiations were breaking down—provides an important example for diplomacy today. The peace conference began when President Theodore Roosevelt invited both countries to conduct direct negotiations at the neutral site of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Because of Roosevelt’s confidence in the Navy, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was specifically selected as the site of the negotiations and charged with the delicate responsibility for providing the diplomatic protocols for peace.

Due to the efforts of Governor McLane, the State of New Hampshire along with Portsmouth and its citizens became the unlikely host for the first international treaty to be signed in the United States. Only now is it becoming apparent that the hospitality of the State of New Hampshire and the residents of Portsmouth and vicinity played a significant informal role in creating an atmosphere that made the formal peaceful settlement possible. As the primary representatives of their governments, plenipotentiaries Serge Witte of Russia and Jutaro Komura of Japan debated, risked their reputations as diplomats, and successfully negotiated a peace treaty that resolved the grave concerns of each nation.